Ciao! Get Packed for Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites, hosted by Hillary at The Other Mama was so much fun last week, I’m jumping in again.

One of my favorite things to do is travel. I’ve always loved it, ever since I was a child in the back of the station wagon riding through strange towns and imagining what living there would be like. This week, our son came over to see us (his lovely wife was working) and showed us photos of a recent surf trip he took to Costa Rica with one of his fire station buddies that used to be a pro surfer. His travelogue spiked my travel fever. All our children caught the travel bug too. (Cupcake is in Blowing Rock skiing on her Spring Break this week!)

Its really hard to pick a FAVORITE destination to tell you about… it’s a bit like asking about my favorite song or my favorite book. HOW do you choose? However, I will say that the day I spent on the Amalfi Coast in Italy is at the top of my list of perfect days.

My mom wanted to give me a cruise of my choice for my 50th birthday and I’ve always wanted to go to Greece. So I picked a Mediterranean Cruise. The one I wanted to go on started in Barcelona, Spain and actually didn’t go to Greece, but we liked the route better. What a great choice!

Because we only had ONE day on the Amalfi Coast, we hired a private guide and it was so perfect. Roberto picked us up at our ship and off we went to see some of the most spectacular scenery I’ve ever laid eyes on. And the food… Oh. My. Gosh. No more talking… let’s start the tour!

Cupcake is holding the biggest lemons I've seen in my life. They were preparing for olive harvest - that was interesting to see.

The vistas were breathtaking.

I think the lunch we enjoyed perched on a mountside in a tiny Italian village was the single best meal I’ve ever eaten. This was just the main course. Pizza was one of the appetizers! I thought New York City's pizza was phenomenal but this was star-gazing amazing!

We celebrated my mom's birthday that day- this was our guide, Roberto. He was from the town of Amalfi and loved his job!

Our walking tour of Pompeii was absolutely fascinating. This ancient town was buried under volcanic ash from the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., so it is amazingly well-preserved.
It was so hot and we were totally exhausted at the end of the hike. Thankfully, my Mom had stayed with Roberto. I literally threw my shoes in the trash at the end of the day as they were utterly ruined.
We cleaned up for another lovely dinner on the ship. My husband had not wanted to go (can't imagine!) so it was a girl trip with my two daughters, my sister and my mom.


This was just ONE day of a 7 day cruise! Have I mentioned one of my favorite things to do is travel? Thanks for stopping by. Ciao!